Every Crack is a Symbol (Charlotte Street Project)

In Michael Wadleigh's 1981 horror film Wolfen, a pack of wolves resists the destruction of the last of their habitat in the ruins of the South Bronx. The mid 1970s economic bankruptcy of New York had led to the collapse of entire districts. Emanuel Almborg's installation links excerpts and materials from Wolfen with an event, which took place at the exact location around Charlotte Street where six months earlier the movie was shot: Organized by a large coalition of citizen initiatives and community activists, the “Peoples Convention” protested against the false promises of the Democratic Party-led government in Washington to rebuild the derelict neighbourhood. On Charlotte Street, prefabricated single-family houses were finally built in 1985­ – now under President Ronald Reagan –, which became a symbol for the promotion of home ownership in poor areas as a motor of neoliberal urban renewal.